Impaction

[rick]

Does anyone have any suggestions for saving my blacktail Aerial from an impacted gut situation?
She was acting oddly last night, going and standing in the corner of the run in the dark after initially being on the roost. I've brought her in, crop was full and watery last night and this morning and although it has become firmer (still soft and mobile) it is still full.
Just water from the rear.
No sour smells so far.
Feels too mobile to be in her crop so I've got a horrible feeling it may be further down.
There are a couple of things I think may have caused it:
I turned over the soil in the back of the run yesterday morning. There may have been a rotting large feather in there.
I have had some hessian cloth in there as a screen - she may have picked some string out of it.
There is straw in the nest boxes but I've never had any trouble before from straw.

Just hoping she will do an enormous messy poop tonight and be back to normal.

...Shes standing on the perch in the dark at the moment with her rear held very high.

[dinosaw]

Nothing you can do if it is further down Rick, I would work on the assumption that it is impacted crop just in case. Massage the crop and feed an oil of your choice, it's all you can do really.

[rick]

Thanks Dinosaw. Have woken her up for a few oil soaked breadcrumbs, a wander round the kitchen and a massage. She has passed some black runny solids which is better than earlier. Drinking lots of water - from the dog's bowl but I'm not going to worry about that.
Her crop has gone down a little I think
ny,.,
that was her walking over the keyboard!
Chickens eh! Who would have em!

[valeriebutterley]

So sorry about Aeriel, hope she improves and give you a simply huge and stinky khaki iced one.

The very last bit made me smile, years ago when chicks were played with in the house by granddaughters, one was doing a keyboard trot during a vital transaction and upped the bid to thousands, the girls couldn't help me for laughing, Amy then about 11 said "what do you think she needs that for?"

[Marigold]

I do hope she improves during the day, Rick. We're looking forward to an update later. (Does she have a Twitter account?)

[chrismahon]

A diet of water only Rick, even if you have to syringe it in and make sure she is moving about. She will be able to go without food for weeks. Sometimes it is worms that have obstructed the gut enough to cause minor things to block, but if she's been wormed with Flubenvet in the last 4 months you can dismiss that cause. You need to make sure there is nothing in her crop to go sour, so keep with the water and massage the crop regularly to break anything in there up.

We've had many digestive impactions- most cleared but a few didn't.

[rick]

We've had many digestive impactions- most cleared but a few didn't.

That's somewhat reassuring.
She seems fairly stable at the moment - not good but not bad either. Crop is just filled with water now to varying degrees but never quite empty. Comb has been paleish at times but also varying in degree. Some dark matter still coming out the other end with the water.
I have to say I lost my nerve this morning and took her to the vet. An x-ray (I know - well OTT) showed, at least, that it wasn't anything like a big stone or something really silly like a nail. There is grit in her gizzard and in her crop (which I found curious). Things seemed in proportion although she is sore around her gizzard and liver.
I opted for an anti-inflammatory jab and a general antibiotic. Unless it's hessian string (I hope not but have removed the offending screen anyway) then I think she must have found something disgusting in the soil behind the run.
At what point would you start re-introducing some food Chris? Some very sloppy layers mash at that time maybe?

[chrismahon]

Some grit in the crop is quite normal Rick. The question is how much grit is in the gizzard, as that itself can cause the impaction?

If there appears to be nothing solid in her crop try a few pellets at anytime and see if they come out as solids- about three hours is the digestive transit time. Sometimes you just have to take a shot and hope unfortunately.

[rick]

Cautiously optimistic. I had to go to work today and was expecting to come back to a worse situation but she actually looks better.
Was sitting in a puddle of poop and urine though which didn't smell very nice but was sitting which is a new development - she had been standing the whole time even to sleep. Now roosting quite normally on the perch.
She did an almost normal poop in the kitchen just now.
Expecting the worse as although I had thought that she only had water in her crop last night it was actually still full of mush when the water went down by this morning so thought we were no further forwards. I left her with a spent corn on the cob husk to peck this morning to keep her a bit active in the cage and a bowl of water. She really has now got less in her crop, just a bit of semi firm dough like something at the bottom.

[chrismahon]

Stinky poop is caused by rotten food, so if she is clearing it through she sounds as though she will be fine. A normal poo says solids are passing through so more pellets should be fine. Just make sure she is drinking enough and massage the crop to remove the rotten 'dough'-she'll probably shift it herself with the pellets moving about and the grit you saw on the X-ray.